1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in particular, to improvements in the methods and apparatus for slot machine play to enhance excitement utilizing wild symbols and strategy wherein sufficient information is provided to the player upon or within the machine so the optimal strategy may be calculable by the player.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Simply because players love wild symbols, the vast majority of new slot machines have at least one symbol denoted as wild. When stopped on a pay line, the wild symbol becomes a substitute for any other symbols. Sometimes these wild symbols substitute for all other pay combination symbols. In other words, the wild symbol may simultaneously take the form of any other symbol in order to create a winning pay combination. In other instances, the wild symbols substitute for only a subset of all other symbols. For example, the wild symbols might substitute for fruit-theme symbols but not beach-theme symbols. In still another well known try, a wild symbol may substitute for another symbol, provided that the other symbol also appears somewhere on the pay line.
Recently, games have appeared in which a “super-wild” symbol has special meaning. In at least two games (e.g., Atronic's “Break the Spell” game, IGT's “Munsters” game), a “super-wild” symbol in any position on a reel makes all the symbols on that same reel wild in succession. In another case (e.g., Aristocrat's “Penguin Pays” game), a “super-wild” symbol in any position makes all the symbols in any position on any reel wild in succession. Needless to say, these “super-wild” symbols are popular because the player generally wins a lot when they appear. Mathematically, they also enhance game volatility.
While the use of wild symbols increases player interest, and when appearing enhances player satisfaction, what has been lacking heretofore in any use of wild symbols is an element of skill in their regard. To date, the use of wild symbols is always a passive encounter with the player. There is no interaction on the part of the player. The ability of the player to have at least in some degree control the destiny of the game play is not in any wild symbol casino game. The desirability to players of their having some degree of control over the play of a wild symbol casino game has not been recognized or addressed.
Too, there exists a base game wherein the player, after every spin, must choose which reels to hold and which to re-spin (e.g., Silicon Gaming's line of slots). Player choice in that game and its resemblance to video poker player control is apparent. The player of a slot machine typically does not know the relative probability of receiving specific symbols and hence the optimal strategy for the slot play is unlike video poker play. The best strategy is not calculable by the player because the player is simply not given enough information. This frustrates players, who would like to make an educated guess in terms of strategy, but is simply not provided sufficient information via rules of play to do so. Indeed, for some games, even if the player knew the reel-strip layout, this is not sufficient information to calculate optimal strategy due to the widespread use of virtual reels see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,419.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,102 discloses the multi-line pay lines in a slot machine displaying a plurality of symbols in a matrix of n rows and m columns of symbol positions. A game control has images displayed and pays when a predetermined combination of symbols is displayed. A predetermined arrangement of symbol positions includes one and only one symbol position in each column of the array. The display has symbols in 3 rows and 3, 4 or 5 columns. U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,309 disclosures a typical slot machine for bonusing with touch screen selectable elements and is with the '102 patent incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof as at least that which skilled artisans would know of regarding how a slot machine is made and operates.
Mikohn Gaming of Las Vegas, Nev. has shown (via, e.g., Yahtzee and Battleship slots) that players enjoy an element of skill in the form of a strategy bonus game, wherein the rules of play allow the player, in principle, to calculate an optimal strategy. Mikohn Gaming has also shown that players enjoy an element of knowledge in the form of a trivia bonus game (e.g., Ripley's Believe It or Not! slot machines).